Gendered Workplaces: Experiences of the Beginning Male Teacher (original) (raw)
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3 Those Who Can’t, Teach: Representations and Challenges of Male Teachers
De Gruyter eBooks, 2020
Films and television have provided us with countless images of men who teach. However, research shows that this is at odds with their relative absence from schools and in 'real' classrooms. This chapter explores why these numerous positive media-representations do not necessarily change the perception that teaching is generally seen as a career unsuitable or undesirable for men. Shared ideas of the characteristics that make teaching fulfilling and honourable live side by side in our collective perceptions as a result of media images of inspirational saviours and bumbling educators. Although these positive teacher images may contribute to men's decisions to explore teaching as a career, many of them reconsider when harsh realities show the limits of these idealised portrayals. The strong connection between masculinity and the notion of the modern 'career' also has a role to play in men's absence from a profession that somehow fails to be represented as a 'real' career for men. The necessity and demands of teacher preparation along with greater accountability and less autonomy combine to discourage many of those who consider education from completing programs and entering the field. Teacher educators and others must acknowledge that unrealistic media representations and existing obstacles and challenges do not necessarily have to result in fewer male teachers. An open discussion about what it really means to be a male teacher, with support and rewards, can counter the doubts and help them understand that teaching is a career for competent, caring men.
Let's hear it from the males: Issues facing male primary school teachers
Teaching and Teacher Education, 2005
As the number of male teachers in primary schools continues to decrease, the resultant gender imbalance has become the focus of increased discussion and debate. While the reasons for the decline in the number of males enrolling in teacher education are complex and multi-faceted, four factors which have been identified as contributing to the decline are experiences and attitudes related to status, salary, working in a predominantly female environment, and physical contact with children. In an attempt to explore the extent to which they were concerned and challenged by these factors, focus group interviews were conducted with practising male primary school teachers. The study confirms that each of the four issues has the potential to influence the decision to take up a career in teaching and to impact on job satisfaction and performance. r
Education 3-13, 2018
Primary teaching ITT courses across the UK have been under pressure from central government, Ofsted and the media to recruit more male students to their courses with the aim of increasing the proportion of males in the primary teaching workforce. This is because increasing the number of male role models in primary schools has been mooted as the solution to boys' underachievement, especially in reading and writing. There is, however, little evidence showing any correlation between boys' educational outcomes and the number of male primary teachers in schools. The purpose of the project reported in this paper was to ascertain the beliefs of the future primary school workforce about this focus on the need for male role models in schools. A mixed methods approach was employed; 120 male and female primary trainees were surveyed and a further 48 took part in group interviews, all of whom were based in an Initial Teacher Training department in a university in North West England. Results indicated that although aspiring teachers felt that males and females could make equally good role models for children their personal value systems perpetuated the myth that boys need male role models to achieve better educational outcomes.
Life as a beginning male teacher in Queensland: Who are they and what are they doing?
2006
During 2005 a mentor program was run as a pilot strategy to link male pre-service teachers with experienced male primary teachers in the Rockhampton and Mackay school districts. As part of the ongoing project investigating the usefulness of a male mentoring program, an online survey was sent out to beginning male teachers in Queensland. Findings indicated that many of the male teachers felt unprepared for the realities of the school workplace with the social and emotional aspects of teaching, issues of work intensification, paperwork and administration as areas of common concern. Three main areas that beginning male teachers would like to see covered more fully in pre-service training included more practicum exposure, more behaviour management skills and pedagogy. In this paper we report on the results in relation to what these teachers would like to see in pre-service training for male teachers and implication for programs such as ours. We conclude by suggesting that further research investigating the BLM internship would beneficial to assess the effectiveness of support for the beginning male teacher and retention of quality male teachers.
Re masculinization of the teaching profession...
In response to repeated calls for the re-masculinization of the teaching profession, some governments have implemented policy decisions aimed at attracting, recruiting, and retaining male teachers in the school system. In this qualitative study, a purposive sampling method was used to obtain information from twenty-four participants about the type of men needed in the Trinidad and Tobago school system. Findings of the study revealed that preference was given to men who are father figures and positive role models for young boys. Such individuals should also be good disciplinarians, and physically strong men who exhibit a hegemonic masculinity. While the male role model argument resonated well with many of the respondents in the study, policy brokers were advised not to use gender as the sole basis for recruiting men into the teaching profession. Rather, those persons should demonstrate sound pedagogical skills and competence in teaching all children. Keywords: re-masculinization, teaching profession, policy, attracting, recruiting and retaining male teachers, school system
Male Preservice Teachers and Discouragement from Teaching
The Journal of Men's Studies, 2011
Driven largely by concerns over boys' education, countries worldwide have seen crisis discourses over small numbers of male teachers, particularly those teaching young children. Despite public desires and policy movements to increase their numbers, important barriers and challenges remain for male teachers. Preservice teachers' experiences, especially, might illuminate challenges to the recruitment and retention of males. Using a (pro)feminist, social interactionist framework and qualitative discourse analysis methods, this study examines discouragements from peers, family, and teacher education as faced by three male student teachers. These included gendered teasing about the ease of and "cuteness" required in education coursework, gendered objections to "wasting" their ability, and gendered suspicions of sexual predation. The analysis focuses on strategic performances the men used to cope with discouragements and persist in teaching. I argue that foregrounding such performances can disrupt barriers for males and thus increase their numbers.
Curriculum Inquiry, 2008
This article focuses on the call for more male teachers as role models in elementary schools and treats it as a manifestation of "recuperative masculinity politics" (Lingard & Douglas, 1999). Attention is drawn to the problematic gap between neo-liberal educational policy-related discussions about male teacher shortage in elementary schools and research-based literature which provides a more nuanced analysis of the impact of gender relations on male teachers' lives and developing professional identities. In this sense, the article achieves three objectives: (1) it provides a context and historical overview of the emergence and re-emergence of the male role model rhetoric as a necessary basis for understanding the politics of "doing women's work" and the anxieties about the status of masculinity that this incites for male elementary school teachers; (2) it contributes to existing literature which traces the manifestation of these anxieties in current concerns expressed in the popular media about the dearth of male teachers; (3) it provides a focus on research-based literature to highlight the political significance of denying knowledge about the role that homophobia, compulsory heterosexuality and hegemonic masculinity play in "doing women's work." Thus the article provides a much-needed interrogation of the failure of educational policy and policy-related discourse to address the significance of male teachers "doing women's work" through employing an analytic framework that refutes discourses about the supposed detrimental influences of the feminization of elementary schooling.
Education 3-13, 2013
One of the challenges facing the Early Years (EY) sector is how to encourage more male practitioners to counterbalance a largely feminised workforce. Using case studies of male trainees at different stages of their primary undergraduate Initial Teacher Training course at one university, we attempt to consider data why there is underrepresentation of men within the leadership strata in EY settings. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted with the male sample groups and male leaders in primary schools to gain an overview regarding gender stereotyping. Our findings suggest that male trainees enjoy working in the EY sector, but they need mentoring by strong leaders to help them overcome the perceived contextual barriers of male stereotypes in that setting. In conclusion, we consider some of these barriers of stereotypes, attitudes, values, beliefs existing and the actions needed in addressing such stereotypes if a long-lasting change is to happen.
Male Elementary Preservice Teachers' Gendering of Teaching
Multicultural Perspectives, 2004
In this article, we examine how prevailing and alternative conceptions of masculinity framed the ways in which 40 White, male, elementary preservice teachers constructed the meaning of teaching. The imperatives associated with maleness were recognizable through four metaphors frequently used to define teaching and themselves as teachers; to teach is as follows: (a) to be a male role model, (b) to be a sports coach, (c) to appeal to reason, and (d) to prepare oneself for occupations within the field of education that carry more status. These metaphors illustrate which forms of teaching are made possible and which are foreclosed when teaching is constructed through the prism of an hegemonic conception of masculinity. If we expect that increasing the representation of men in kindergarten through sixth-grade teaching will contribute to advancements in the construction of gender-fair schools, then multicultural teacher education needs to help male and female preservice teachers see how they "do gender" in their teaching.